The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1887-09-16

parents started you with only one plank
and you believe little or nothing. Or they
may have been too rigid or severe il
religious discipline and cracked you owe
the head with a psalm book 1t may b
that some partner in business, who was
member of an evangelical church, piayet
on you a trick that Disguised you with re
ligion. 1t may be that You have associates
who have talked against Christianity il
your presence until you are .'all at sea,
and you dwell more on things you do no
believe than on things you do believe. Yo,
are in one respect like Lord Nelson, whel
a signal was lifted that he wished to disre
gard, and he put his sea glass to his BLIND
eye and SAID: Il really do not see the sig
nal" o, nv nearer, put this field glass o.
the Gospel no longer to your blind eye ans
say can not see, but put it to your Other
eye, tie eye of faith, and you will SET
Christ, and He is all you need to see.
If you can believe nothing else, you GER
tainly believe in vicarious suffering, fol
you see it almost every day in some shape.
Last month the steamship Knickerbocker,
of the Cromwell line, running between
| New Orleans and here, was in great
Storm, and the captain and crew saw the
schooner Mary ID. Cranmer in distress.
| The weather cold, the waves mountain
high, the first officer of the steamship and
| four men put out in life-boat to save the
crew of the schooner, and reached the YES
sci and towed it out of danger, the wind
shifting SO that the schooner was saved.
But the five men of the steamship coming
back, their boat capsized, yet righted
again and came on, the sail
ors coated with lce The boat
capsized again. and three times upset and
was righted, and line was thrown the
poor fellows, but their hands and arms
were frozen so they could not grasp it, and
a great wave rolled over them, and they
went down, never to rise till the sea gives
up its dead. Appreciate that heroism and
can. and can we not appreciate the Christ
who put out in a more biting cold and into
more overwhelming surge to bring US
out OF infinite peril into everlasting safety !
The wave Of human hate rolled over Him
ON one side, and the wave of hellish fury
rolled over Him on the other side Oh, the
thickness of the night and the thunder OF
the tempest into which Christ plunged for
our rescue!
Come In on that one narrow beam, the
beam of the cross. Let all else go and
cling to that Put that under you, and
with the earnestness of q swimmer strug-
Cling for his life put out for the shore.
There is great warm fire of welcome
already built, and already many, who were
as far out as you are, are standing in its
genial and Heavenly glow. The angels of
Gods rescue are wading out into the surf
to clutch your hand, and they know how
exhausted you are, and all the redeemed
prodlgals OF Heaven are on the bench with
new white robes to clothe all those who
come in on broken pieces of the ship.
My sympathies are for such all the more
because was naturally skeptical, disposed
to question every thing about this life and
the next, and was in danger of being furth-
er out to sea than any Of the two hundred
and seventy-six in the Mediterranean
breakers, and was sometimes the annoy
ance of my theological professor because
asked so many questions. But I came in
on plank knew Christ was the Saviour
OF sinners, and that was a sinner, and
got ashore, and do not propose to go out
on that sea again. have not for thir.
ty minutes discussed the controverted
points of theology in thirty years And
during the rest Of my life do not propose |
to discuss them for thirty seconds.
would rather, in mud scow, try to |
lzaathAn ah~------%-y-s---ss zuucvcr sw-r<t
up from the caribbean than risk nv i'm /
mortal soul in useless and perilous discus
'ions In which some of my brethren in the /
ministry are indulging. They remind me
d company OF sailors standing on Rams.
gate pier head. from which the hfe-boats
ire usually launched, and coolly discussing
ne Inherent style Of oar-locks and how
ieep boat ought to set in the water, while
hurricane was in full blast and there
re three steamers crowded with passeu-
Lers going to pieces in the ofing An old tar.
ne muscles OF his face working with merry.
us excitement cries out: This is no time
Q discuss such things Man the life-boat.
Who will volunteerl Out with her into
ne surf Pull my lads, pull for the wreck
Ia! ha! now we have them. Lift them in
nd lay them down on the bottom of the
oat Jack, you try to bring them to. Put
nese nanneis around their hands and feet
no Will pull for the shore. God helu :
lei There Landed Huzzar" When )
here are so many struggling in the wave,
sin and sorrow and wretchedness, let all J
sc go but salvation for time and salvation Y
,reyer
bethink myself that there are sone
re whose opportunity or whose life Is a
ere wreck, and they have only a small u
zee left. You started in your youth with p
| Sails set, and every thing promised 5,
and voyage, but you have sailed in the ii
rong direction or have foundered on a
OK You have only fragment of time
It Then come in on that one plank
some on broken pieces of the shipn k
You admit that you are all broken M. vi
Q decade Of your life gone by, two de- q,
des, three decades, four decades, or :,
II century, perhaps three-quarters Of a - ?.
injury gone. The hour hand and the III
mute hand of your clock of life are al. v
,st parallel, and soon it will be twelve ri
d your day ended. Clear discouraged ! 81
. youi / admit that it is q sad thing &c y
re all Of your lives that are worth any :. =.
ng to sin and the devil, and then at last II
make God present Of q frstrate III
-pse But the past you can not recover.
on board that old ship, you never will.
We you only one more year left one
re month, one more week, one more &c
!, one more hour-come in on that. Per. ay
,s II you get to Heaven God may let Won sa
out on some great mission to some other ~,
rid. where you can somewhat atone for.
II lack OF service in this 50
rom many death-bed have seen The 1
IDS thrown up in deportation something lie
this: my life has been wasted. had so
mental faculties, and fine social posi- "a
!, and great opportunity, but through i.